Laura Brehaut/Postmedia NewsOriginally published on November 28, 2014; Postmedia

Beer, coffee, tea – the world’s favourite beverages offer a gateway to bitter flavours. A return to classic cocktails has resulted in an abundance of handcrafted cocktail bitters in flavours ranging from rhubarb to celery. Bitters are essential to classics such as the Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Sazerac. But what about embracing bitter flavours in the food we eat, not just in the glass? Bitterness is subjective, complex and, unlike sour, which results from consuming acids, a response to thousands of different chemical compounds.